LONDON — A British intelligence agency is seeking spies in cyberspace.
GCHQ, the surveillance arm of British intelligence, said Thursday it hopes to attract computer-savvy young recruits by embedding job ads within video games such as “Tom Clancy’s Splinter Cell: Double Agent.”
GCHQ, which stands for Government Communications Headquarters, said it was looking to reach “an Internet-savvy generation of graduate groups.”
The month-long ad campaign, which starts at the end of October, is being run by GCHQ, the recruitment firm TMP Worldwide and Microsoft-owned in-game ad agency Massive Inc.
Ads headed “Careers in British Intelligence” will appear as billboards in scenes in “Splinter Cell” and other games, including “Need for Speed Carbon” and “Enemy Territory: Quake Wars” when they are played on computers and Microsoft Xbox consoles in Britain.
Kate Clemens, Head of GCHQ’s digital strategy at TMP Worldwide, said the campaign would target frequent gamers who “are particularly receptive to innovative forms of advertising.”
“The world of online gaming offers GCHQ a further route to target a captive audience,” she said.
GCHQ employs about 5,000 people at its high-tech headquarters in Cheltenham, western England.
Britain’s shadowy intelligence services have slowly been raising their profile – and deflating some cherished secret-agent myths – as they attempt to attract a larger and more diverse pool of recruits.
